This new and ambitious project has recently started and I am part of the HCMR team that is involved in assessing the state of conservation of the marine habitat types and marine invertebrates protected by the EU Habitats Directive in Greece. Two years full of travelling and diving around Greece, sampling with non-destructive techniques, mapping with new state-of-the-art tools, photographing nature underwater and setting up stations for the future monitoring of the marine NATURA 2000 network in Greece.

An excellent opportunity for me to gain an even more detailed insight of the state of the marine environment of different parts of the country and a better-informed, large-scale view of the pressures and threats that it is facing.

For the time being, here as some recent photos shot around Sapientza island, just opposite of Methoni in the southern Peloponnese. They were taken during the dive for the characterisation and marking of the deeper limit of the lush and lively Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows (Habitat Type 1120) of the local NATURA 2000 site.

Stay tuned, as I will be posting project info, updates and photos from the field in a frequent basis...